


If Only You See, What I See Special In You

by Roxis



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Childhood Friends, Depressed Rey, Epic Battles, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gifted People, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired By A Couple Of Shows, Luke Deserves Better, Older Man/Younger Woman, Power Battle, Power Dynamics, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey deserves better, Suicidal Thoughts, Superpowers, Torture, Unresolved Romantic Tension, luke/rey, poor luke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-09-19 12:03:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17001312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roxis/pseuds/Roxis
Summary: A world with gifted people, some are hunted down and murdered, due to the orders of an emperor. People fear for their lives, among them is Rey.After an encounter with a certain group, her life changes. For better or for worse, she's fighting for the sake of saving this empire, alongside her fellow friends and with the help of someone helping her master her gifted ability.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a new idea I wanted to try out. Do give a try at reading this story, hope ya'll enjoy it.

The sky is dark. Endless black covers above the First Empire. The Supreme Ruler Snoke, with his tremendous power, created an empire from what once had been nothing more than a small country. But even he, who was considered a god, wasn't able to beat even death itself. With his disappearance along with his power, the Empire started to crumble.

Many of those who were gifted with the ability to surpass human beings raced to lay claim to the position of Emperor. They were given the title 'Strangers'. Among them, one stood above all, become the next Emperor. However, he feared with the possibility of another Stranger overthrowing him. So it became his mission to hunt down every single Stranger in the land, save a few to those he trusted to carry out his orders.

The people lived knowing the power of the Emperor. With what he is able to do, people truly lived in constant fear for their lives.

The poor and needy weren't helped. Instead they were forgotten and left to die in hopes they wouldn't create anymore gifted Strangers. 

Helping a Stranger will lead to everything you have being robbed from you. Having a Stranger as a blood member will lead to humiliation in the family name. Being a Stranger will lead to death.

The Known Empire is now nothing more than danger zone for any Strangers. But just as Empire once grew in strength and numbers, so too did a rebellion. One to overthrow the Emperor and bring needed peace to this land.  
____________________

"Those two went this way!"

Her body was aching and tired from the chase. His as well. But the sound of footsteps approaching them tells them they don't have time to stop. It was always like this, running and hiding. Nowhere to go and no one to approach.

They're in an alleyway. Which alleyway? She doesn't care, neither does he. She turns her head to see two men with their white armor on still chasing them. She's glad their protective covering wasn't any darker as it exposes them ever more so on this dark night.

She falls down from sheer exhaustion. She takes a moment to look at the puddle which reflected upon her face. She hated that face, that identity. Rey Nieva.

Her companion rushes to her aid, "Rey, we need to keep on going! They're going to catch up at this rate!"

'Finn, I'm _sorry_ you have to suffer for what I've done,' she stood, but her legs are unable to keep her up. "Finn, just go! I might die but at least you get to live!"

Before he can protest, their pursuers are on them, guns pointed directly at them. "Raise your hands, and don't you two dare do anything!"

 _'Finn, don't you dare do it,'_ she thought. Though she said nothing, Finn knows what's in her mind. Still, Finn looks up as he grabs a hold of her, one of the men fired his shot, but in this instant...

They _vanished._

Gone in a blink of an eye.

The two men shouted some profanity at the disappearance of the Strangers. They run to the other end of the alley, in hopes of capturing them, enraged and focused on the path ahead of them. 

On the rooftop, Rey sighs in relief. Finn teleported them to the top of the building, much to her dismay. Finn's ability **'Then There Was None'** lets him travel between places within his line of sight. It has its perks, even when it's not an offensive ability.

The pain for the excessive use of his ability has taken a toll on Finn. His body ache and it's written all over his face. Rey puts her hand on him to calm him down. She realizes there's blood on his shirt. _His_ blood.

Her eyes widened in terror when she sees the wound on his chest. He had taken a hit before he was able to teleport. Rey takes off her jacket and uses it as a makeshift bandage to cover the bleeding. 

"Finn, you're gonna be alright, okay?" she hadn't noticed the tears forming in her eyes, realization hits as she knows he'll be gone soon. 

"Rey, _don't_ lose control. We can't have that thing coming out."

She nods, knowing what's at risk. She mustn't lose focus. She must control her emotions. Even when her best friend, who she has come to think of as the caring and protective brother from a another mother, closes his eyes, signalling his presence would be gone for good.

The rooftop door burst open abruptly. Sudden shock has Rey putting her attention at the two figure now on the rooftop with them. Rey holds Finn close and is prepared to die. Instead she is met with reassuring hands and a calm voice, "It's alright, it's alright. We're not here to hurt you."

Rey pays closer attention to the person above her, realizing they have female figure. She's not her pursuer. Rey hopes this person knows a thing or two in how to treat a wound.

"Please, he's hurt. He needs to be treated immediately," Rey pleaded.

The mysterious lady seems to know what she's doing as she moves Rey aside and looks at the wound inflicted on Finn. Rey's about to ask what she thinks she's doing, but finds that she doesn't need to know the answer when the lady's hand glows golden. She's a Stranger too.

"That's her ability," said the Stranger's companion. " **'Life Excels'** , or at least that's what she calls it. I'm Poe, that lady there is Jess."

"I'm Rey. The one that got shot there is Finn."

It was just a brief exchange of greeting before Rey looks back again at Jess' work on Finn.

Jess lets her hand go after it stopped glowing, to reveal the wound had been undone, no mark either. Rey's amazed at the result of the work, so is Finn, who is glad he gets to live another day after he inspects his body and find out that the damage is gone.

They were about to thank Jess when Poe interrupted, "Listen, follow us if you want to live. There are still those Empire troopers around here. Right now you're best chance of survival is to come with us!"

Rey and Finn gave glances to each other, hesitant but finally deciding on following Jess and Poe outside the building and inside their van parked outside, in a location that is hidden enough not to be seen by the public. If they hadn't been taught better, they would know never to get in another car with someone they don't know. 

But with the following events, Rey and Finn decides they were kind enough to follow. What kind of kidnapper would save them from a fatal injury, let alone reveal their power. 

Poe turned on the van and drove out of there, driving a bit too dangerous on the road.

"How did you guys find us?" Rey asked the question that has been on her mind.

"We saw you two in a chase with the troops," Jess started, "Honestly, we should have let you be, but ignoring what we saw wasn't an easy thing to do. It didn't made it easier when we realized you two were Strangers as well."

"What part about us being Strangers made you guys want to help out? What does it have to do with you two?" Finn questioned, curious and suspicious about the identity of the two.

It was silent for a few minutes, Poe contemplating whether or not he should answer, before he did. "We're a part of the rebellion. I'm sure you've heard of us before."

Rey and Finn were shocked with the revelation. Rey needing to process this, she finally answers when her head is cleared up with the confusion, "Yeah... I've heard of them. You guys are a group trying to take down the Emperor, right?"

Poe was too busy on the road, but Jess' nod answered her question. "I know it may sound silly and probably absurd, but we are planning on putting an end to his reign. Many people have suffered under his control. Many have died, even the innocent and children. We're not letting him get away with this."

"We are also short on powerful people." Poe added.

Finn looks baffled with that sentence, "I thought the rebels are getting more and more people recently?"

"Yes, that's true. We have more and more people choosing to rebel. But it's still not enough to reach the power in the Empire. Even with the help of some soldiers from tribes outside the Empire. And... That's not what I meant when I said 'powerful' people.

Rey paused at the last statement, she knows what he's trying to point out. 

"Did you mean, the power of Strangers?" Rey hesitantly asked.

Poe and Jess were quiet. But even with the silence she knows that she's correct. Rey can't help but feel afraid, a war between Strangers will lead to destruction everywhere around them.

"We're not asking you two to immediately join this battle. But you two must know that the ability in Strangers could change the tide of a battle in their favor. We need all the power we cou-"

"I'm in." Finn blurted with more courage than he thought he had. 

All three of them stared at Finn for a while, making sure that the words that had come out from him were really what he had meant.

"Finn, what are you-"

"I'm joining this battle, Rey."

Rey look at him in disbelief, "Finn, it's too dangerous. You're gonna die."

"Even if I don't, what chances do we have of living freely?! Right now this Rebellion needs all the support they can get to take down this shithole of an Empire. I'm not going to keep on running anymore, Rey. If I die, at least it was for a cause!"

Rey is at awe, while Poe looks a bit more amuse. Finn is right, they can't keep on running. Either decision she picks will lead to her possible death. It's her poison, die from living like a street rat till she gets captured by the troops or die in the battlefield.

"Rey, what about you?" Jess finally asked. Jess isn't begging Rey to do it, she's not forcing her. Rey can't wrap her mind around an answer.

"I..."

The van gets a loud hit from the back. Poe checks on the side mirrors, showing the Empire's vehicle with their troops inside. They found them.

"Shit! They caught up!" cursed Poe.

Poe stepped on the gas pedal, trying to increase the distance between them, the troops did as well. One of them rolled the window down and began shooting at the van.

Rey and Finn took cover. Jess opens her window and prepares to counterattack as she takes aim with her gun. Jess screams at Poe to aid her, "Poe, I need some speed!"

Jess fires. Shattering the glass of the car and crushing the chest plate of one of the troops. Unfortunately, he's still alive to keep on firing at the van.

As she puts her hand back in the car, after getting shot once in the arm, Jess checks on the amount of ammo left in her gun. **Two** more. "Fuck, I should have brought ammunition along with me."

Still feeling the pain of her injury, Jess places her hand on it whilst activating her ability to undo the damage. Poe looks at Jess for a moment, still tending her wound, deciding to take this into his hands.

The troops automobile started slowing down, slowing ever more until it seems like the troops lost interest in the chase. Rey finds this strange when she takes a peek at the back. Suddenly, the van moved at a faster speed than it was before, Rey was startled and bump into the side door.

Rey takes a look at the window after the sudden acceleration, she realizes they're gone. Way gone. She can't see them anymore after just a minute of her looking away.

Heavy panting can be heard coming from Poe. She turns to look as he's filled with sweat dripping from his forehead. "What happened?"

"It's his ability," answered Jess, handing Poe a piece of cloth for him to wipe his sweat off. "He gets to control how fast and slow things go."

"It's not called **'Gottfried's theory breaker'** for nothing."

"You are literally the only person who calls it that!"

Poe gives her a grin and takes the cloth to dry his face, "Though my ability is useful, it seriously takes in a lot of effort the bigger the object in motion is. So don't expect me to slow down a meteor when it comes for us."

Though the situation is serious, Rey giggles. Finn follows soon when he realizes Rey finally smiling. It's been a while since she did that.

"So where are we heading to now?" Finn asked while looking at their surrounding. They seem to be on a road which has no other paths but straight forward, multiple trees surrounding each side of the road.

"We're heading to our hideout."

____________________

Rey woke up from the clunking sound of the car. She sees the sleeping figure of Finn. Jessika's as well. They must have fallen asleep during the journey. Not that she's surprised since the whole thing occurred past midnight. It's probably around 5 in the morning right now.

"Alright, sleepyheads. We're here."

Rey hears Poe as he turns off the van and proceeds to get out. Jess and Finn waking up soon. Rey steps outside the van, followed by Finn and is at awe with the hideout of the Rebellion.

"Welcome to the base." said Jess with a yawn.

The hideout was an abandoned mansion located in the woods. The years taking its effect on the building, yet it still looks pretty neat. The marble floors looking polished and tidy. Pillars can be seen with cracks but they still look strong enough to be used as covers evident with the looks of holes from gunshots in one side of the pillar.

Rey doesn't get to look through the details of the building furthermore as someone who Rey would describe to look as a butler come out from the entrance. He's wearing nothing more than the color yellow, which Rey finds it a weird color but doesn't pry.

The butler look-alike greeted Poe with his arms spread for a hug, to which Poe does for him. "Mr Dameron, glad to see you back safe and sound."

"Ms Pava as well." He proceeds to hug Jessika too.

After they parted their contact, the butler looked at the two unfamiliar people behind Poe and Jess.

"I see you two brought guests. But as you know, General Solo may not be pleased with it," whispered the butler.

"I'll take care of that problem. Where's General Organa and Skywalker?" 

"General Organa and Solo are discussing plans for our next course of action. General Skywalker is out in the woods at the moment, possibly near the lake."

The butler, who Rey presumes is named Threepio after hearing Poe and his little conversation, escorts them inside the building. The moment Rey and Finn enter the building, she sees the place filled with people from every corner. Young and old, big and small, walking in every direction inside the building, presumably to talk about battle strategies or to make small talk.

Rey feels some pair of eyes staring at her and Finn, though she tries to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.

"Dameron!"

Rey hears a shout coming from the grand staircase in front of them. It came from a grey haired man coming down the stairs. He was dressed roguishly for someone his age. The older man rushed down to put his hand on Poe's shoulder.

"Kid, you had us worried. What took you so long?"

"Sorry, General. We had to pick something up along the way." Poe said calmly, but Rey can feel a bit of nervousness in him.

It was then that the so called General looked at Rey and Finn, he doesn't seem to be pleased with the entrance of the two. "Kid, what did we say about bringing people to the hideout."

"General," Jess cutting in front of Poe. "These two are Strangers. They can lend a hand in the battle against the Empire."

"It doesn't change the fact that you two are putting the hideout at risk. We aren't sure about the identity of these two."

"If I have a say in this," Finn started. "These two saved us from the Empire."

That sentence did not calm the older man, the shock shown in his face with his widened eyes. Rey feeling worried with what he's about to say.

"YOU HAD THE EMPIRE CHASING YOU!?"

Rey looks around to see most of the people in the base focusing their eyes on them. She feels uneasy with the number of people gawking at them. 

"What's all the commotion about!?"

Rey looks up and sees another figure in the stair. An older woman, though she looks younger than the man. Rey is now terrified with what's about to come. The older woman didn't seem to show any presence of bitterness. She feels a bit more relaxed, but was startled when the older man replied harshly.

"The two were in a chase with the troops after picking up some uninvited guests!"

As the older woman comes down the stairs, Rey expects Poe and Jess to be berated again. To Rey's surprise, the older woman has her hands pinching the ear of the man. While the older man winced in pain, the woman in power assures them calmly. "Sorry, kiddos. Han just likes to overreact on things a bit."

The older woman lets go of her captor before Poe apologizes to the two Generals in front of him. Jess joins in the apology, quickly explaining the situation to the two. Han mumbles a sorry as he looks away, the woman just rolls her eyes. In the back, Rey and Finn finds the situation awkward to watch.

The older lady leans to look at the two standing awkwardly. The general moving past Poe and Jess to greet the two Strangers with a hand. Finn accepts saying he's glad to be a part in this, she smiles while the two exchange introduction.

"Leia Organa."

"Finn."

Leia Organa now moves to greet Rey, offering her hand. "And you are, dear?"

Rey brightens up at the welcome of the general, "Rey. Rey Nieva."

"Well then, Rey. Glad for you to join us."

Rey takes her hand up to shake with the General. Rey and Leia made contact, the touch sends Leia a shock as she moves back steps with her hands on her head, grunting words as the contact had sent her head bursting in pain.

"Leia!?" Han screams as he holds her in his hand, Leia still suffering from the sudden headache. _"What did you do to her!"_

Rey can't say a word, stunned at the action.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Leia muffled. "It was jus-"

The noise of a single gunshot echoed the mansion, everyone aghast at the sudden blast. Someone's been shot. _Rey's_ been shot.

Shot from the back and her body falls to the ground. Screaming erupted everywhere. 

"Rey!" Finn screamed out loud. Poe checks the area, in search of the culprit. Someone pointed the gun at her, someone from the back. The man in question didn't know her, she didn't know him, he was just some random person from the base. But his trembling voice spoke, "She... She hurt the General, she used her ability..."

"That **wasn't** her ability," said the General.

The shooter paused with a confused look before getting hit down to the ground, his hands being locked in the back, gun taken from him.

Jess wasted no time healing her the moment she fell down, Finn beside her. The wound is gone, but the panic in Rey remains.

"Finn," Rey whispers in a panic as she's standing up, "She's out."

Jess unaware of who she's referring to, but Finn does, freezes in fear before he gets the word out. "Everyone... **Run**."

Jess astonished by what he said, Finn screams at his lungs. "Everyone get out!"

Around him, everyone is confused. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew inside the mansion, Rey at her knees as she screams at the agony and pain in her body. Everyone moves away from her, afraid with what's happening.

"What's going on!?" Poe screamed at Finn.

Finn pushes Poe away from Rey, "Go! It's her ability, we need to get out of here!" The ground beneath them turning cold, freezing into ice not for long.

The place turned chaotic, people rushing out of the mansion terrified. The crew looks back at Rey, "Her skin turning midnight blue. Marks appearing on her body. Her hair turning into a shade of pink and blue, glowing brightly despite the evil look.

Her eyes turned black, no trace of white anywhere. Her hazel iris turning yellow, looking cracked in black.

Black horns growing slowly at her forehead, the view of her is clear now. She's a **demon**.

The ground beneath her, the walls around her, objects near her, are freezing. Turning slowly into nothing but frozen decorations.

"She's gonna freeze the whole building at this rate!" yelled Han.

The whole place was filled with terror. The demon, Rey, not stopping for a moment to freeze everything. Just as the mansion started becoming an arctic, a single hand holds the demon on the shoulder.

"I think that's enough with the formal introduction."

The next moment, all the ice is gone. Everything the demon did turned into sparkling dust floating in the air. Rey returns back to her human self, conscious and doesn't understand what happened.

Rey sees the man above her holding her in the shoulder. Blond hair with a few gray streaks, growing beard and the thing that Rey notices the most about him is his gorgeous blue eyes.

The mysterious man lets go of her shoulder and proceeds to walk outside, meeting Leia on the way.

"Always late to the party huh, Luke." Leia giggles.

Luke gives Leia a small grin, "Better late than never, sis."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group takes a look at the past of their new allies. Some questions answered, while others raises more questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad ya'll liked the first chapter. Here's the next one, am currently trying to write more while the muse is still high.  
> (｡^ω^｡)

Moments after the imminent destruction of the base was avoided, thanks to the work of the man that stands beside Leia, Rey becomes aware the demon inside her grew silent. Rey still feels her, just weaker. She sees Finn rushing to her, followed by Jess and Poe.

She rises from her knees, legs still feeling a bit numb. Finn tackles her in a hug, Poe joins in the squeeze which surprises Rey, given they had only been acquainted for hours. Jess on the other hand inspects her for any damage, but is no less happy that she seems to be back to normal.

Rey swings her arm, giving Finn and Poe a light slap, “I’m happy to be back too, but you guys are squeezing the air out of my lungs!” She gasps for air as she is released. 

Rey is hit with an immediate barrage of questions from Poe and Jess, majority consists of them demanding an explanation of what had just taken place in the past few minutes. She’s all too answer their questions, though not enthusiastically. Instead, she focuses her attention on the man who had saved her. Said man gives Leia a nod after what it seems like a conversation from the two and decides on fleeing to the forest.

“Hey, guys. I’m gonna go for a minute.” Almost as soon as Poe was about to question her once more, Rey makes a hasty getaway, ignoring the calls of her name. Despite the crowd, she makes her way pass them and into the forest, no doubt of where her intention is.

Finn didn’t try stopping her, aware of how she always runs when her worst nightmare comes true. He just hopes for her return just like those previous times she did.

“Finn, can we talk for a bit?” Leia asked.  
____________________

Rey dashes through the woods in desperate search of the man, swatting through branches and dodging trees. At the end of her path, she finds a clearing littered with an abundance of flowers, a huge lake situated beside them. The crystal water reflecting the clear sky beautifully. She’s never seen a more gorgeous sight.

She notices the man sitting legs cross on top of a giant rock, facing towards the lake. His eyes were shut and his hair and jacket flowing from the gust of wind blowing. 

Rey comes closer to him, walking at a slow pace, unsure of how to approach him. It was until she was a few distance from his back that she decides to make her presence known.

“Excuse me?”

The man flinched in surprise and looks back with an irked face, which in turn scared Rey. Though it quickly faded when he got to see the image of a woman with a frightened look. He steps down from where he sat and stood face to face with Rey.

“Uh… My bad. I assumed you were someone else.”

She sees him with more details as he stands with how close he is to her now. He was taller by a few inches than her, dressed in a knee length coat that covers his vest and buttoned shirt. If anything, his attire shouts gentleman from the 40’s. Though he does look like someone who was closer to that era than Rey was.

He looks likely to be in his early fifties. For someone his age, he’s still attractive, and his body still looks to be in healthy shape. Not that she knows, just an assumption based on the clear muscles evident in his arms. His long hair and beard seems to be the only things he hasn’t tend for a good while, though she’s not disturbed by it, much less with the few strings of grey on them.

But his blue eyes.

It was one of the most noticeable and mesmerizing things about him. For a brief moment, Rey finds herself staring at those exquisite eyes until he spoke to break off her glare.

“What brings you here?”

Rey, now back down to earth, responds sceptically, “I honestly don’t know. Fate, I guess?”

Rey looks elsewhere, blushing a bit after he caught her looking. She notices his gun located on his belt holster and a rush of thought came to her mind.

“I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself,” she apologized as she brings her hand up for a shake hesitantly. “Rey Nieva”

The man took her hand without doubt and shook it. Even with his victorian-esque glove, Rey feels his touch. “Luke. Luke Skywalker.”

“I just want to thank you for what you did back there in the base,” Rey articulated. “If you hadn’t shown, then I might have endangered everyone.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Luke reassured, “I just happened to hear a gunshot, is all.”

Rey is hesitant for a while, body shaking and sweat dripping. But before she gets to continue on, Luke interjected, “I know you didn’t just follow me to announce yourself and acknowledge me, tell me what you’re really after.”

Rey’s eyes widened when he caught her, realizing she must have been too obvious for her plan to be discovered from the get go. She gives him a sly smile before confirming, “This’ll make it easier.”

Rey lunges at him and takes the gun from his holster, Luke failed at the attempt to catch her arm while doing so. “What’re you doi-”

“I want you to shoot me!” 

Of all the things she could have responded, Luke had expected that to be the least. That was a lie, he hadn’t expect it at all, not one bit. Her facial expression shows she’s serious about this, about asking him to shoot her.

“Please, do it for everyone’s sake,” she begs.  
Luke notices her plead as the tears drips down her cheek. Her teary eyes, filled with so much sorrow and guilt. He’s never seen the spirit of a person so broken, full of melancholy. She looks broken down from the pain she’s carried all her life.

“Tell me why.” Luke inquired, trying to be careful, with the gun in her hand, anything he does or say could risk the life of the woman. Even if that’s what she wanted, Luke remains cautious until he hears her story.

Rey wipes her tears away, trying to do the man a favor from having to see the pathetic display of her bawling. Her sobs died down and her lips now started forming words.

“It’s my ability,” Rey glumly said. “ **‘Padma’**. I named it after an icy hell. Because just like hell, that’s where the demonslive.”

“I’m sure you’ve met Khu, the demon inside me,” Luke nodded, remembering the demon that had almost frozen the base completely. “She… is a part of it, _my ability_ that is. Manipulating ice is what I do, but half my powers came from Khu, you can say that my powers and her come from the same place.

She’s been the cause of my pain and suffering ever since I was a child. But what pains me the most is to have her be a part of me, to have her stick with me for the rest of my life.”

“And that bothers you why?” puzzled Luke.

“Because with her inside me, I’m nothing more than a ticking time bomb. If she gets out of me, she will freeze everything and there’s no stopping her from turning this world into her own winter hell.”

“Can’t you control it?”

“Don’t you think I tried!?” Rey shuddered. “I can’t control my powers, Luke! I’ve done so many things, but none of them helped me the slightest. Even if I die, Khu will take over my body and claims it as her own! The only reason I’m still living is to prevent her from fully possessing this body.”

“Then how does killing you help things?”

“That was before I met you.”

That was all he needed to fully understand what she was trying to say.

“I saw what you did back there, Luke. Khu may be a demon, but she’s still an ability. _My_ ability. The moment I die and she manifests my body. You need to stop her just like what you did back in the base and she’ll vanish.”

Rey offers Luke the gun she’s been fiddling with, and as Luke took it, Rey gives him a look indicating she’s ready. Moving back to touch the tree behind her as she’s prepared for the impact.

Luke takes his stance closer and aims at Rey. He’s heard her story, sees her pain of living through as a tool for the being inside her, feels the weight on her, and she wants nothing more from him than to finally rid her of those feelings. It wasn’t hard for Luke to pull the trigger and fires his shot.  
___________________

“Can you start with explaining what happened with Rey?” Leia queried.

She was with Han and Finn on the meeting room, on the second floor to discuss privately. With Jess and Poe following because they won’t take no for an answer.

“It’s her powers. She had it since she was young, we grew up in an orphanage together and during those troubling times. She hadn’t had the chance to master her powers.”

Han, holding Leia on the shoulders for comfort from her recent mind recovery, takes in the information. “So what? She just turns into a demon and freezes willy-nilly?”

“Close. She controls ice but just happens to have a violent demon living inside her. She despises her ability. It’s what causes all the things to have happened to her so far.” 

The discussion continued on with Finn answering much needed information they needed to know about Rey, one question had the whole atmosphere in the room quiet.

“Where were your parents when you two were young?” Poe asked, earning a hit from Jess on the shoulder and a soft scold.

“You don’t ask that kind of question!” Jess chastised, giving him another hit on the shoulder.

“What, I’m just curious. Parents normally help their gifted kids control their powers unless they-”

“Abandoned me in the dumpster to die.” Finn finished his sentence, a slight mix anger and sadness in his face as he sighs at the story of his past.

Jess smacks him again, mouthing a ‘see’. Poe’s head slumps down in apology.

“It’s fine,” Finn stated.

“And what about Rey?” Poe asked again. This time he’s on the receiving end of glares from everyone in the room.

“She…” Finn halting for a few seconds until he spoke timidly, “Her parents died.”  
____________________

Her body jerked at the sudden noise of the gun booming. Keeping her eyes shut, she awaits the pain to kick in her and for death to take her life away.

But nothing. She felt nothing. No sense of agony nor any strain in her body.

She opens her eyes, looking at the gun in front of her. There at the muzzle of the gun, thin smoke coming out from the firearm. He had fired his weapon, but she had not felt anything. Rey looks behind her and sees the bullet nudge in the bark of the tree, had he missed? No, the angle is too off.

“I won’t end your life, Rey. You still have much to offer in this world.”

Rey looks at him more confused than ever. She’s heard that line before. In movies, in a play, and all of them too cliché. Even from the people in her past who believes she can do something. She hears that same line, yet wears a mask to hide their feeling of pity and disgust. Her feeling of confusion turns into a small rage as she’s now barking at him.

“Then tell me what you think this broken good can offer! People have told me that I’m special, and now their bodies lie in dirt! Can’t you see, Luke? Everywhere I go, anything I touch, anyone I go near to, they all are destroyed by the very thing they call me special. And I sit here unable to do a damn thing about it.”

“Have you not realized it yourself you’ve done good, just as much as you’ve done bad? Maybe even more?” His hands holds on to Rey’s shoulder, adjusting it to make sure she’s looking at him. “You’ve done something already.”

“Then tell me what I’ve done!” she demanded as she frees himself from his hold and stepping back.

“You’re _alive_.” Luke answered. “You’re constantly fighting to hold the demon inside you. You’re keeping yourself composed to not trigger the manifestation. All you’ve done is think of the safety of others by keeping yourself alive.”

His statements flabbergasted her. His words came from the truth that he believes about her.

“You think of how this world is better off without you, all because of your ability. You want to die to help achieve a better world, yet you keep breathing because you know your death will cause more suffering to the people around you. Had you been selfish and decide to end your life before meeting me, this world might have turned to oblivion.”

He places his gun at his holster and he now places his hands on her again, steadying her as she was about to fall from being unbalanced. She places her hand on her mouth to keep herself from crying out.

“Do you believe me, in what I said?” Luke asked.

Rey, through her sobs, nods her head.

“Rey, you’re not alone in this. We’ve all had our fair shares of sin, your sin is no less than mine.”

“Then tell me how I can move on living with my powers! Please.” Rey said frantically.

“I’ll help you master your powers, Rey.”

She now holds one of his hands and sandwiches it with both her own, holding it close to her and tightly as if it was some sort of lifeline.

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you doing this to me? Why are you helping me when you barely even know me?”  
Rey finally looks up and makes eye contact with Luke’s eyes, slightly flustered after she sees Luke’s gaze on her, nothing but a tenderness from his stare.

“Like I said, Rey. Your sin is no less than mine, I’ve done things in the past I wasn’t proud of. I’ve failed people in my life that I’ve lost count on them. But it’s the very same thing which pushes me to not do the same to the present. I’m fixing my mistakes, Rey. It’s what I owe to this world that I’ve smeared.”

He lets go off her, walks to the stone he had sat and grabs the bag he had brought along with. “Training starts tomorrow morning. Just come to me when you’re ready.”

He walks away and heads back to the direction of the base. Rey wonders of their meeting for some time, thinking of what he’d said to her. She admires the scenery in front of her while reflecting on herself, eyes too tired after her outburst of cry and she just drifted off to sleep.

It was around midnight when she woke up to the feeling of something fuzzy. She opens her eyes and sees an orange ball of fluff under her chin. A kitten curled into a ball and had slept near her. Rey pets the kitten and it purred at her touch. She thinks of how adorable it is before picking the kitten up and bringing it along with her as she goes back to the base.  
____________________

It felt as if the whole thing with Rey turning into a demon and almost freezing everything was nothing but a memory as she sees the base organized and not in peril. She ponders for a moment at the entrance of the mansion, would she be accepted after everything?

“Beeby, is that you right there?”

Frightened, Rey looks back and sees the golden dressed butler along with general Leia.

“Pardon me miss, but may I have the kitten you are holding?” the butler addressed her.

The cat glues itself at Rey’s arm, unwilling to let go of her and hisses at the butler who makes an effort to remove the orange feline off of her. Beeby jumps and makes a surprise landing on Rey’s shoulder as Beeby goes to sit there. Rey laughs as the fuzzy animal tickles her neck with her fur.

“Looks like Beeby has grown attached to you, Rey.” Leia commented. “Come with me, we’ll show you your room.”

“My room?”

“Yes, your room. You are a part of us now, Rey.”

Rey smiles gratefully for that which she had been longing for. She’d become so accustomed to living a life of misery, the little feeling of joy she just had was abnormal to her. She follows the two inside the mansion. Nothing changed from her first visit of the place. People scattered everywhere and too busy to pay attention to the three people when they walked in.

The three wander the entire mansion, Rey getting a glimpse of all the rooms in the mansion for her to remember later on in case she would ever want to visit them. They finally reach to the private quarters at the very end of the hall. Leia hands Rey the key to her room before she enters. She sees a twin size bed at one side of the room and a desk on the other side accompanied with the chair, along with some flower decors sitting on top of it.

“It may not be much, but it’s all that we have, Rey.” 

“No, this is more than enough, Lei- I mean, General Organa.” Rey trying not to sound rude in front of her superior.

Leia laughs it off and as she was about to speak, Poe and Finn knocks at the already open door to tell them of their presence. Finn’s holding a neatly folded set of clothes while Poe shows Rey a long sleeved, black jacket with shoulder holes.

“Figured we give you something else to wear. A new look, a new you,” recommended Finn, who places them on the desk.

“Sorry, but with all this Rebellion stuff, we didn’t have much time to go shopping. So you might be stuck with wearing the same thing for a while.” informed Poe.

Rey takes the jacket and admires it for a moment, “I’ll make it work.”

A few minutes later, Finn, Poe, and Leia leave Rey alone for her to rest in for the night. The butler, leaving the packaged meal behind for Rey to consume, and as she’s about to do so, Rey hears a knock on the front door again and sees Han on the other side.

“Permission to come right in?”

“Granted.” Rey tries in for a smile. She hopes he doesn’t go aggressive for what happened at the base, especially to Leia, his wife. Even though that one wasn’t her own fault.

The rogue man walks in and just stands in front of her, doing small constant moving with his hands behind his back. He looks a bit nervous, though she can’t really tell when the general is playing her with a poker face. After a tensed minute, he finally opens his mouth, “I feel like I need to apologize about what happened earlier.”

She wasn’t expecting that. He continues, “I was a bit too irrational, to say the very least. Maybe I could have acted better upon your arrival. Point is, I’m sorry.”

Rey finds the General has a soft place in his heart. She could see why he might have been mad and doesn’t blame him for it. “It’s fine, I could understand why you were mad, no harm done. Water under the bridge.”

The rogue man gives her a grin, before he takes out a gun from his pocket and places it on the table. “My apology gift.”

Rey looks at the handgun on the table, shocked at his surprise present for her. Before she clarifies with him, he makes it clear for her, “It was Junior’s idea. He said something about you needing to defend yourself while you’re still unable to control your powers.”

Rey unsure of who ‘Junior’ is, not knowing whether she met him or not, has her questions answer when Han screams for someone.

“Ain’t that right, Kid!”

‘Junior’, who happens to be Luke on the hallways away from their sight, shows himself as he moves in front of the doorway to. Rey slightly surprised to find out who Han was referring to.

“Was that really necessary?” Luke bickered.

Han ignores Luke’s annoyance towards him, and plays with him a bit more, “Kid told me he’ll be training you. Make sure he doesn’t give you any lectures. He might be boring but at least it’s great time killer.”

Luke narrows his eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh, “This is what I have to deal with, every day.”

“C’mon kid, you know you love me.”

Rey watches the lovefest between the two and giggles when Han frolics with his long messy hair, with further annoyance radiating from Luke. 

“Anyways, I’ll leave you two at be. Maybe want to discuss about your session tomorrow.”

The General leaving two behind and walks out to the hall. Luke felt he should discuss with Rey about their training that day and told Han, he obviously had thought of something to plan it out for Luke.

Rey standing up to sit on the edge of her bed, offering her seat to Luke. “So…”

“It’s about the training tomorrow, I’ll be teaching you how to handle your powers better, to make sure your friend won’t come out easy next time.”

“How… did you made Khu stop before? She grew quiet ever since you did what you did in the morning?” Rey curiously asked.

“It’s a part of my ability, **‘Njord’s Sin’**. Normally, all I do is weaken the power capability of Strangers I touch, but I’ve been using this gift of mine for a few years now. I eventually learned I could just cancel the ability of Strangers as long as I am in physical contact with them.”

“Then should I just stick myself onto you with some glue then, to make sure you’ll stop me if I go berserk?” Rey jokingly said.

Luke looked at her with a small smile, “You’ve brighten up. That’s good.” Luke stands up and makes his way to the door. “Remember, morning training. I’ll be at the kitchen when you’re ready.”

Luke went out and back to his quarters, Rey happy to have some decent conversations with her allies to be during battle before she eats her meal and sleeps on the comfy bed she’s all too happy to finally have.

 

____________________

Morning came by quickly, Rey already leaving on her way to the kitchen to meet her master. She’s glad she got a tour from Leia and Threepio yesterday. She wouldn’t have been able to locate her way to the kitchen otherwise. Rey looks at her new attire. She’s not about to question the fashion taste of guys when cause she enjoys wearing her grey tank top and jacket with her brown, cotton jeans. Her boots were a bit tight but she’s not complaining. Better than having to use her worn out shoes she stole from some thrift store.

Upon arriving at the kitchen, she sees a small group of people staring at someone. She finds it strange, but doesn’t know if this is a normal thing for them or not.

“Uh… What’s this all about?” Rey asked Jess when she sees her from the small pile of crowd.  
“C’mere, look at this.” Jess pulled Rey’s arm to follow the stare of people.

They’re staring at Luke making coffee. “Is this something you guys always do?”

“No, but look at Luke. He’s _smiling_.  
Rey notices Luke’s wide smile. She hadn’t seen this part of him and she finds his feeling of joy adorable as he’s stirring his mug while he’s humming to himself.

“He’s even humming!” Jess exclaimed.

She joins the group of people staring before snapping out and asking Jess, “What’s wrong with his smile?”

Jess moves closer to Rey and opens her mouth so close to Rey’s ear she can feel her breath, “Luke never smiles, not even that wide. He would give the occasional grin, but he would never smile to himself, more so to even hum!”

Rey raises her brow at the finding, but thinks back to the gloomy years of her crying she doesn’t question Luke’s absent smile, lest she would be a hypocrite.

Ignoring the group of people as they whisper to Rey about what the hell she’s doing when she makes her way to Luke whose sipping his morning coffee from his mug. Rey pokes at his arm to catch his attention, to which she succeeds as one of his eyes catches her on his side.

“Morning, Rey. You ready?” Even Luke’s voice sounded happy.

Rey nods and the two walks their way outside the mansion and on their way to the training field. The clearing Luke and Rey were in yesterday. Their leaving together causes a few people to wonder what’s going on between the two. Jess happens to be one of them, wondering how this will turned out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After learning a few new things about the Generals, the crew receives their first mission with Rey in it. Luke's response?

Time flew by quickly. Rey, during the first week of her stay, found herself enjoying her life more than anything she ever had in her past. She didn’t have to hide, or run away. No feeling of any impending doom; no feeling of dread filled her like how it had when she was living in the streets. Rey can’t speak for Finn, but she knows he’s never been friendly towards people before joining the Rebellion. Now it seems like he’s planning out his schedule between spending time with Poe and Jess, along with a few other rebels, and getting some time to talk with Rey. They have been looking out for each other for the past 10 years.

Finn has been hanging out a lot more with Poe and his gang, cracking a few jokes in the mess hall. Sometimes Han joins in the conversation with a few jokes of his own, bringing Leia to question his position as the General. Rey hasn’t been spending a lot of time with the group other than the usual nod and greeting gestures she does in the hallway when she meets them. She thinks she should, but she’s all too busy filling her schedule with training under Luke.

Her control over her ability has more or less improved, although she still has trouble manipulating ice. It moves the way she wanted to, but it would occasionally break within a few seconds of Rey maneuvering it under her palms. Creating the ice wasn’t any easier. Often times, she has to rely on the water from the lake, collecting a handful of it before freezing it completely just to have it shatters into pieces. If she’s lucky, which she isn usually’t, the frozen liquid would remain only to follow the same fate when she begins to cause it to float.

 

The day wasn’t any different. Thinning her patience out every time the shard breaks into pieces, Rey breaks into a fit of irritation when a breeze of wind blasts her. Losing concentration, she breaks the ice yet again, and raises her hand up the air in disbelief, “Urgh! I was doing so well!”

During these times, Luke stays beside Rey, remaining calm and nonchalantly gives her other easier instructions or some recommended meditation, keeping his promise to be her teacher.

“Hmm… I think we should try a different approach.”

“How do you know I wouldn’t fail at it as well?”

Trying to not fuel the fire, Luke remains quiet. Rey thinks of how her action was a bit nonsensical when she sees him. Despite her blows, he never once doubted her, nor gave up helping her, and here she is repaying him with more outbreaks.

“Sorry,” She whispers, “That was inappropriate and unnecessary.”

“It’s fine.” He smiles. Every time he does, it astounds Rey. He acts differently around the base, almost the opposite of how he is now. A bit grumpy while all too serious with everything single little thing happening all around. Maybe sometimes show a bit of irritation towards a few people. But to Rey, he’s never been more gentle.

 

_‘Probably because he doesn’t want me to shoot myself with that gun the General gave me,’_ Rey thinks. _‘Heaven, and Luke, knows I still look at that gun as the key to my redemption.’_

Putting her amazement at his duality, and her suicidal thoughts aside, Rey looks away from him to hide her feeling of disappointment as a student. “Luke, it’s not. I don’t know what you see in me, but I can’t do anything. Not with my powers.”

She stopped forming tears a week ago, decided she’s cried too much already and to toughen up. She’s not in the brink of tears, she’s past that. But she still brings up her self-consciousness. High level of low self-esteem hitting her, negative thoughts and anxiety creeping in and thinks too much of her as nothing but a mistake. 

“I do see something in you Rey, but not what you’re thinking right now.” Luke reaches out his arm towards her, offering her his open palm. “Put your hand above mine.”

Rey, a bit skeptical to do so, puts her back palm above his hand.

“Now, make a snowball.” Luke instructed.

Creating snow wasn’t as hard for her like when she made a solid object. Probably the only thing she was capable of doing, though she thinks it’s a bit useless. Following his instructions, she starts forming snow from the hand on top of his, slowly turning it into a round object whilst floating. The snow forming assembles into a bigger ball, big enough to fit her hand like how she made the others.

 

But this one’s different.

 

More, more and more snow started forming, at a much faster pace too. She awaits for the moment where it falls to the ground like how it always did. But it didn’t happen. Not this time. This time it’s continues on assembling itself the way Rey wanted. She can hardly believe what she’s seeing when a snowball already the size of a head is floating under her command, not breaking, not turning into a puddle of water, it had followed her.

“Impressed?” Luke said smugly with an enigmatic smile.

Rey confusedly looks at Luke for an answer.

“It’s the other part of my ability.” Luke addressed. “While I can negate the abilities of other Strangers, I can also strengthen it as well. That is if I keep physical contact. What you see right now, Rey, is the potential of you and your ability.”

“Isn’t this just some sort of boost?” questioned Rey.

“Not quite. I simply removed a bit of the limit on your powers, so for as long as I keep contact with you, you have a bit more access with your powers.”

Luke pulls his hand back from her. The snowball which grew so ever more, floating above her hand fell to the ground below. Unbothered by the cold mess which buried her feet, Rey picks back some snow for her to disperse into the air into tiny particles.

“Why didn’t you do that to me before, maybe would have saved you some time, and some screams?” Rey asked while still handling the snow.

“Because I don’t want you to rely on me when I’m not there for you.”

Rey wonders and agrees with a slight shake to her head, finally getting rid of the last now piece on the ground.

“Still, would be nice to keep you near me at all times. To help me control my powers better.” To prove her statement, Rey forms another snowball which melts as soon as it’s created. Though she wasn’t fazed with the similar result, clearly that’s what she intended to happen.

 

“Well, I showed you your potential. You’ll reach that level eventually. Hopefully soon.”

She was about to sluggishly collect another handful of water before she hears a shout coming from the trees.

“Hey! Are ya’ll done there!? We’re having a meeting!”

It was apparently Jess who comes by to retrieve them for whatever reasons. Obliged with a smile, Rey follows her teacher and Jess as they walked the rocky path back to the base. She hasn’t had any time to rest and so is thankful for what it is that they are to be called. Anything to get her mind off training, even for just an hour, fills Rey with ease. 

They made it to base where Rey finds out General Organa is holding a meeting for only a few people. Rey sees the first floor still filled with a crowd. As they went in the meeting room, she views the dimly lit room with a single lamp shining and, what Rey is guessing, a map of the First Empire laid on the table. Rey notices the people included in the meeting are only the Generals and the Strangers of the Rebels, who Rey finds out during her one week of stay to only be Poe, Finn, Jess, and Herself, not counting General Organa and Luke. Poe wasn’t kidding when he said they needed more powerful people.

 

“Rey, Luke, glad for you two to join us. We have a mission.”

“A mission?” Rey says with a bit of amusement in her voice. She hadn’t heard any mission or any orders at all, but now that they are getting one, Rey’s curious with what they’ll be going up against but afraid as well with her still uncontrollable powers.

“Yes, Luke if you may?” Leia sticks her arm out to Luke. Luke grips Leia’s arm, Rey assuming Luke’s giving her a boost just like what he did to her.

“Alright, Freya. Whatcha got for me?” Leia places her arm, the one not currently holding Luke’s, on the map at the crossed sign. Immediately, Leia’s eyes shined and Rey notices her dark colored eyes changed into glittering golden,.Rey thinks of it as something purer than when hers had changed into something demonic.

Rey leans in to Han who happens to be next to her, “Mind filling me in?”

“It’s the powers of the two twins. You’re probably aware of Junior’s power? Kid can weaken and strengthen other’s power, plain and simple. Princess, on the other hand, is a bit trickier.”

Rey, taking a guess he’s referring to Leia, asks for more details on her ability. She’s never been able to see her use it until now.

 

“I called it, **‘Freya’s Blessing’**. She gets glimpses of the future, maybe a warning from the future. But it happens without her control, sometimes triggered when she touches an object or maybe when she does nothing at all. But with Kid’s powers, she could predict certain decisions and check for the various warnings implemented on it. It’ll lead to her deciding which the best course of action to take.”

 

“So she checks on how dangerous a decision could take?” Rey asked.

“Bingo. Glad my wife didn’t use it on me when I asked her out for the first time.”

Rey chuckles at the reveal, “Maybe she did when you asked her to be yours. If she hadn’t, then she wouldn’t have known her non-Stranger husband wouldn’t leave her.”

“She’s my wife, Rey.” Han grins and Rey sees a bit of pride in his smug face. “I never asked to be a part of this war, but I sure ain’t letting the Princess all alone in the battlefield. It’s a thousand times scarier to see her mad than the devil itself.”

Their little chat ended when the glow from Leia’s eyes started to diminish and her brown colored eyes came back. The twins letting go of their hands and Leia rubbing her eyes from the use of her ability. Surely the shiny glow should cause some itch somewhere.

“So what’s the plan?” Poe inquired.

Leia bites her thumbnail, strategizing on the choices she has to make to prevent any drawbacks on the team. “Poe, I need you, Finn, and Jessika to stop the delivery of Plutonium set to the Empire. We’ve been getting reports that the Empire has been gathering plutonium anywhere they can, and that doesn’t smell anything good. Stop them with whatever it takes.”

 

The three nodded their heads understanding their orders.

“Luke, I need you to meet with a certain someone. He claims to have overheard the Empire’s plan with those plutonium. Hopefully he does have information we need.”  
“And what about me?” Rey speaks up.

“Sweetie, you’ll be—”

“Staying here, where you can practice with your powers more,” Luke interrupted.

Rey is not happy at the slightest hearing that, the part where he mentions training made it worse. “I’m sorry, but I want to be a part of this too.”

“Rey, you haven’t fully controlled your abilities, it’s a risk sending you out there as of the moment. You don’t even know how to use a gun yet.” Luke trying to alleviate her displeasure.

Rey shows an annoyed face before taking her personal gun from her holster, and starts disassembling all the parts of it like she had already owned the gun before without any stop. She then assembles it all together in a faster speed than when she had taken it off, aims it at a wine bottle someone had drank and shoots without sparing a second, breaking the bottle and the wine bursting from the glass.

 

Half the room now terrified when Rey gives Luke a look that he’s proven wrong, “Okay so you do know how to use a gun. Point is—

“I know how to defend myself, Luke!” Rey snapped. “Okay, you know what? Fine! I thought if I had joined, maybe it could have been the experienced I needed. Maybe it could have helped me with the potential you showed to me. Never expected you of all people to turn me down.

Rey stormed off the room, too furious at him to care when Luke tried to call for her, into the direction of her dorm. The others soon depart as well, with an unpleasant feeling, leaving Luke and Leia alone.

 

“You know… _She’s not like him_ , Luke.” Leia breaks the awkward silence filling the room. “She knows how to handle herself. Ten years in the streets have taught her as much.”

Luke lets out a sigh, “I just… don’t want to make the same mistake with her like I did with him.”

“Yes, but now you’re making a different kind of mistake. Trust in her abilities, Luke. Whether she’s mastered it.”

Luke nodded at her advice and was prepared to leave before Leia speaks again. “Also, I think you should bring her along with you.”

“So she forgives me?” Luke questioned.

“That, and when I checked on the mission you took, I counted Rey in it. There’s a chance the danger level dropped significantly, so it’s best to bring her along, for both your sake.”

Luke understands, he just hopes she would join him. With what Leia said, Rey could be key to the mission’s success, or possibly the survival of the two. Leia’s warnings were never clear, even after his power boost, but at least they helped determine the difficulty of the tasks which are essential to prevent any losses, and Rey might help with this mission. But first, he needs to settle things with Rey.

 

As he arrives in front of her door, he hears something from inside. He’s reluctant to open it, afraid she would even be more furious he would show his face to hear. So instead, he gives her door a few knocks, following his knocks he speaks in front of her door.

“Rey, listen I… Am sorry, for what I said. I should have trusted you better. Shouldn’t have doubted you, Rey. I’m sorry for not understanding you better.”

Inside, Luke berates himself for making his apology quick and simple, but he can’t waste much time, he still needs to meet with the mysterious client.

“I’m about to leave for the mission.” He continues. “You can come along with if you want, Rey. I’m not forcing you after what I said, just know that the spot is still open and I’ll be there. I’ll be waiting outside, if you’re not there in 10 minutes, I’ll take it as a no, you don’t want to join me.”

No response. He just has to hope for the best that his apology was enough as he heads down to the entrance.  
____________________

 

9 minutes… and still no sign of her. Luke’s been checking his wristwatch every passing minute, looking around in hopes he sees her. Too focused on the inside, he hadn’t realized the smack to his back.

Luke startled, and he turned around to see Lando, “Christ, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Glad to be back too, Luke,” replied Lando.

“To see you back here that means you’re done checking the place?”

“Yea,” Lando lighting a cigar located on his mouth, “None picked up my radar.”

“Sad, but we got a couple of new recruits while you were out.”

“Any pretty ladies among them?”

Luke not interested in his jokes, pushes him back a little, which was apparently enough to send him to the ground. Luke mumbles a ‘really?’ before helping him get back up to his feet.

“You’re pathetic.”

“Sometimes, Luke. Sometimes. Anyways, what is the great Luke Skywalker doing outside?”

“Leia sent me on a mission. I was supposed to leave already, but I am waiting for my partner outside. Though she doesn’t seem to be tagging along.”

“Did you mean her?” Lando points toward someone behind him, and he looks around and sees Rey exiting the entrance, he sees her gun located on her holster tied to her. She did decide to join.

Luke rushes to her when she gets close to the van they were using, out of instinct or not he abandons Lando and goes directly to her. He still sees her face livid, which means she still hasn’t really forgiven him.

“Rey, I–”

 

“ **Don’t talk to me.** ” she climbs in the van and closes the door on him. She’s still agitated, though he can’t really blame her. After all, she’s going to be in the car with the person who caused her anger. Though if she willingly decided to join in the mission, that must mean something.

“You got a feisty one there, Luke. Mind explaining me where you got her?”

“I’ll tell you all about it later. Now we have to go on the mission.” Luke hops in the van when he sees the time and starts the engine, glancing at Rey for a moment to see her ignoring his eye contact. She’s quiet too. ‘This is gonna be an awkward ride,’ thinks Luke. Though with Leia’s prediction, something should emerge along the mission, Luke hoping the tension between the two gets cut off soon. It will be hard to keep teaching her if she’s still mad. Stepping the pedal, the van drives its way onto the road.

Lando behind still waving at the van until it’s out of his sight before he rushes inside the building in search of Leia. Having just discovered something, he gallops and makes his way to Leia's personal office.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rebellion takes on their mission. Of course like every mission, things never go the way you thought it would

After the briefing, and her talk with her friend, Leia relocates to her office, trying to savor a few minutes, or hopefully hours, of solitude. Unlike her brother who enjoys the open view and the feeling of wind brushing his face, she prefers the enclosed section meant for the people who do not go outdoors. She doesn’t know why, maybe the feeling of the polished wood from her table felt better than the rough skin of the trees. Or maybe she doesn’t enjoy the sunlight, though Luke told her is good for the skin, she’s much happier staying indoors in the air-conditioned room.

Sitting comfortably in her chair, she glances at the scattered papers she will later have to review drowsily, but realizes her family photo beneath some of them. The family picture that included her, Han… and their son when he was still a toddler. She’s quick to open her drawer and place the picture on the bottom of some books before closing it with a slam. She had forgotten she left that portrait on her desk when she was clearing some things up from their box of old memories.

Though her hands tremble, she places them down beneath her table to avoid getting notice when she hears a knock from the door.

“Come in.” She said.

“It’s been some time since I get to see your beautiful face again, Princess.” Lando said as he enters the room, grabbing a chair on the side of the room and placing it immediately facing her. “So long that maybe I should buy you a table for dinner.”

_‘Ah, Lando. Seems like you’re back from your mission.’_

“Please, Lando. Flattery will get you nowhere. And you know only my husband calls me with that name. Your attempt to woo me aside, how goes your mission?”

“Rejected once again,” Lando said dramatically, before handing Leia some files. “The people there weren’t any special from what my ‘ **Penny Eyes’** can see. Though a few interesting ladies, I must say.”

“Spare me the details, Lando.” Leia looks into the files, studying the mission report. Before she can allow his leave, Lando asks Leia about Luke and someone he had seen outside. “So who’s that gorgeous woman Luke went out with?”

Leia closes the folder and looks at Lando, intrigued with what he has to say since he’s bringing her up. “Her name is Rey. Someone we recruited while you were out, around last week. Why ask? And no, she won’t be sitting at a table with you.”

Lando then crosses his arms, “Her ability. My **‘Penny Eyes’** caught something from it.”

Leia lets out a sigh, understanding what he’s implying when he had said that. She places the folder on her desk along with the random papers, she explains to Lando what had occurred with Rey in the past week of his absence.

“Yes, we are aware of her demon abilities. Luke has it controlled, trained her too in fact.”

“That’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about her ice.”

Leia realizing she had read him wrong, now has a sense of nervousness struck her. A bit worried with what he meant, especially since he’s talking this to her, she hopes it wasn’t trouble with Rey. After receiving the visions from having made contact with her during their meeting, she sees some hope coming from the visions she received, but also sees the bad ones. The danger level rising exponentially with anything Rey does. She just hopes it wasn’t Rey who's causing the danger.

“Please explain what you saw, Lando.”

____________________

Luke understands Rey’s silent treatment towards him during the start of their travel towards the Empire. But from then on, he hadn’t expected her to have kept it until they were arriving so close to their destination, though he had all the reason to have at least consider her not even making the slightest eye contact with him. All the time, her eyes stays at her window, not moving her head even once when Luke engages in a talk, or in an apology.

Their travel was another 10 minutes or so. The outskirts of the First Empire were visible, bringing Rey the memories of living in the poor and dirty streets outside of the Empire. She and Finn were never wealthy enough to have been able to live inside the walls of the Empire, the only place where poor and dirty rats go to are outside. Luke parks the van at a little space between trees, making sure it’s located where it can hardly be seen.

“We’re stopping. From here we’re going by foot. Here’s a cloak –”

Before he was even able to grab one for her, she quickly cuts him off and picks up the brown hooded cloak meant to cover their identities. She had hope for better ways to conceal themselves. She hurriedly puts on the cloak and advances away from the vehicle, walking the path towards the Empire. All while Luke was still in the vehicle. He takes his garment and hastily catches up to Rey, making sure to lock the van before doing so.

Rey had her hood on from the cloak, still trying to avoid him even when they’re about to proceed into the mission. Still, Luke keeps quiet while walking with the same pace as her, but soon follows up with another, what seems to be, apology.

“Listen, I–”

“Don’t try to apologize again, Luke. Okay?” She’s finally talking to him again, and also makes eye contact while at it. Making sure he doesn’t get the wrong idea, she speaks up, “I’m still mad. But I’m not going to let my emotions be what drags this mission down. Let’s finish this, and then we can talk it over it later.”

Luke follows her declaration, “Yes, that sounds better.”

Luke thanks her for understanding his apology and joining him on the mission then decides to just keep his mouth shut on the subject. She looks back on the road in front and tells him the reason why she’d join. Apparently, Leia had talked with her during Luke’s stand by, comforted her a little and finally convincing Rey to join his mission. He makes a mental note to thank Leia for her actions.

They reached the outside section of the Empire shortly after. The one not inside the walls which separates the rich from the poor. With every step Rey is reminded of the dark place she’s lived in for the past 10 years. The place that traumatized her so deep. The place she left a week ago now back in front of her again. But she won’t be here long, just some place she has to pass to get inside the walls. She didn’t have to hold herself to keep composed and to control herself from shaking, but sadly the very thing is happening right now. Luke sees her state of keeping composure and it tests his restraints of holding her in his arms, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, also still fear anything he does would anger her.

The sound of bells jingling is heard from the side of a building near them. Rey stops her shaking and sees a little girl with bandage rolls wrapped around her eyes, her hair dark coloured but messy, she wears nothing but a ripped robe as her clothing, clattering the small brass bell with her arm and holding out a small box with her other. Odd, Rey moves closer to the little girl, Luke following her. Rey kneels down to the girl to match her height and greets her.

“Hello, where are your parents?”

The girl undoubtedly surprised, stopped clanging the bell and places it down. She tries to locate Rey’s face with her hands, Rey grabs it and places it on her cheek. The girl turned up a smile.

“Hello, you have such a beautiful face.” The girl commented.

Surprised at her comment, Rey startles back a little, but not having the hand let go from her cheek. “You can see me? But your eyes?”

“I can see because of my gift,” the girl replied. She unfastens the bandage rolls and reveals to the empty sockets of her eyes. It was empty, only the inside seen clearly, a few blood escaping from the two holes. “My parents didn’t like my ability. They took out my eyes so that I can’t reveal them to the Empire if I were ever to be found.”

Rey lets her hand go and covers her mouth in shock, pities the girl for having to undergo such cruelty. Behind her, Luke felt the same way. The girl fastens back her rolls and wipes of a few drops of blood which escape down her cheeks. She still smiles, her smile never leaves her face, even after the audible sound of shock that came from Rey.

“What are you doing here? Where are your parents?” Rey’s voice boomed, in anger and disgust from what the parents had done to their own blood.

“My parents left me here after they took out my eyes. I’m trying to gain money from performing with my bells my sister gave me.” The girl said, even in a tone that didn’t contain the slightest anger nor sadness. “You see, I hope to be able to feed myself to get the energy to find my sister with my ability. I’m sure she misses me.”

Rey was about to hold her in an embrace before she sees Luke behind her grabbing the girl’s hand and putting money in it, lots of them. The girl rubbed the hand full of cash, realizing the amount he had put in there, “Sir, this is–”

“Keep it.” Luke interrupted. “You need it more than I do.”

The little girl’s face brightened up, Rey giving the girl the embrace and whispering to her ears, “Stay safe and I hope you reunite with your sister again.”

The girl nodded and returned her hug with her own too, letting go later and followed to hug Luke on the waist while murmuring her thanks to him. She runs back to an alley between the buildings, while waving at the two before she disappears to the other side.

“We should really get going.” Luke said.

The encounter with the girl made her forgotten her reason of being there in the first place, slightly blaming herself for letting it happened, but also feels content after having met the little girl. Though it might have taken a bit of their time, nothing can trade the joy she felt when she saw her happiness and her smile. She never got to know her name, yet she thinks their lives will meet up once again. It was just a matter of time.

The section of the Empire inside the walls was everything Rey had dreamed of; crowded streets, expensive ornaments displayed everywhere, exquisite cuisine and armed guards of the Empire everywhere. Though with the luxury Rey saw, comes the evil part of living here as well. She saw gang fights with the troops showing little to no care about the danger its own people are getting through. She sees a few thieves taking what’s not theirs, but the one that had her almost pull out her gun was when she saw the Empire troops beating a boy in some alleyway for apparently stepping up against them. It pains her to witness it. Had Luke not been there to stop her from creating a scene, she would have already fired her gun on the two troops. It’s ironic how between the section of the Empire outside and inside the walls, the inside has it worse than it is outside.

For what it’s worth, the cloak does its job of concealing their identity. The two haven’t been stopped by any troops like it did to a few random civilians. She thinks the minor disguise will keep working, until she jinxes it and a few troops approached them from behind.

“Citizen, please reveal to us your identity cards.” The troop ordered them. Worried, she prepares herself for the worst and puts her hand on top of her gun and behind the cloak, ready to take her gun out if it is necessary.

But Luke stands in front of her, making some made up stories to tell the troops, something about how the two are lost and are from a different region. Unseen by the troops, Luke’s hand positioned itself to grab the gun located on his back, Rey readies herself with what’s about to come.

Just when the troops asked whether he’s seen him somewhere before or not, Luke takes him by surprised when he launches and takes one of the troops in a chokehold and fires at one of the other troops, knocking him down with a gunshot wound on the stomach, just below the chest plate. Rey clicking the gun safety and firing her shot to the knees at the last troop standing, just in time before he was able to fire at Luke. Still holding the troop at his hold, Luke grabs his head and smashes it unto the brick wall, knocking him out cold.

Rey looks around and sees the people rightfully afraid, behind them she notices more troops heading to her direction.

 _“Run!”_ He yelled, and they did. Trying to avoid gunshots being fired at them, the bullets hitting everywhere and luckily not them, but they can’t risk the danger of the people.

“I have a plan! Do you trust me?!” Luke said in midst of their run, sticking out his hand for her to take. Rey stares a little while at his hand, then to his face of needing her permission as if still afraid she would deny him.

“Yes!” was her reply.

Grabbing his hand and holding it they made a some distances with the troops before Rey sees the opportunity, and boost from Luke, to unleash a blast of snow and ice from her hand to freeze the floor behind them, quicker than when she had tried to freeze anything. A few of the troops falling down to the now slippery ground covered with ice and snow.

The troops remained standing fired their weapon from behind the icy ground. Luke guiding Rey to turn to an alley from being fired and just barely dodged a bullet aimed at her head. The troops gaining balance from the fall follow them in hot pursuit only to find an ice wall blocking their path in the alley, separating the guards against Rey and Luke. Through the ice, they see the two figures running to the opposite end.

____________________

“Damn it! That hurts!” Poe screamed in pain in the woods.

“Be quiet! You’ll alert them of us!” Jess whispered in reply while trying to tend his wounds. Poe got a deep cut on his chest, ripping through his buttoned shirt and leaving a nasty injury.

“Can’t you use your powers?” Finn beside them, all three hiding behind a fallen tree to cover them from the troop of the Empire. The troop that was provoked when the vehicle was detonated and having most of their supplies destroyed in the process, provoked enough to fire his weapon in every angle despite nothing in sight but effective as the bullet managed to cut Poe’s chest.

“Not possible,” Jessika replied. “My ability only heals wounds which are minor. If I want to heal him, I have to treat his wounds first making them less of a danger before being able to heal them completely.”

Poe mutters a quick _‘fuck’_ before everyone gets cover from the rapid fire of the gun from the maniac in search of them. “We need to stop this crazy lunatic if we want to escape, he’s seen our faces too, and we can’t let that risk get to the empire.”

“And here I thought we didn’t have to kill anyone.” Finn mumbled.

“We wished we didn’t have to,” Jess reloads her gun, “but sometimes, things are done for the greater good.”

Jess gets up and starts firing at the troop, landing a few shot to his hand, but is unable to pierce through the chest armor. She yells at Poe to help speed her fires, but realizes he passed out on the ground. Backing down to continue treating his wounds with the little med kit she brought, she realizes she can’t treat him all while offensively fire at the troop.

“Give me the gun!” Finn yells at her. Jess hesitant to do so at first, finally ends up doing it when she sees the situation they are in. Quickly, he gains the focus of the troop when he fires shots towards him and once he has his full attention, he vanishes from his sight.

The troop confused at what he saw, blanks out for a while. Before feeling the light touch of someone from behind followed by a “Hey, asshole!”

He turns around but is too late as Finn already takes his shot on the head. His body falls to the ground and without sparing another second next to the lifeless corpse, Finn teleport back to Jess and Poe behind the tree cover. Seeing Poe’s wounds tended just well enough for Jess to begin her healing powers on him as she places her hand on the injury. The skin reconstructing itself, blood that came out redirecting back inside him and Poe comes out from his sleep with a deep gasp, followed by a cough.

“What took so long?” Poe joked when finding out his wounds had gone away from him.

“Was busy with a maniac, nothing much.” Jess side-eyed him. Finn handing Jess’ gun to return, but Jess refuses at it. Claiming she has spares and Finn should keep it. Saying he’ll need it especially after what he did to the troop to show his perfect use of his ability combined with a gun.

Poe mouthed ‘good work’ at him while standing to his feet. The three heading back to the base after having done their role in the mission, now just waiting and hoping to see Luke and Rey back at the base.

____________________

The background noise and screams faded further away. Assuming they’re now safe from the troops Luke opened up the lid of a dumpster to check on their surroundings. No one in sight. He opens the lid fully and steps out of the trash basket, helping Rey get out from it as well.

A dumpster definitely wasn’t the ideal hiding place for the two, but with nowhere else to hide from the guards in plain sight. Desperate times calls for desperate measure. Once out and smelling hideous, Luke checks on the location of the rendezvous. To their luck, they were able to get closer to the place during their chase with the Empire. They waited till night-time in the trash compartment. Considering the stir they caused they need to lay low for a while. Hopefully the guy their meeting is patient enough to wait for them until the sky went dark.

Cautiously, they walk on the dimly lighted streets, though empty with no one to look at them, they can’t risk being spotted again. As they walk closer, they realize the rendezvous was situated at a park, weird place to hold up a meeting but by this point they couldn’t care less.

The whole park is nothing but silent and empty, nothing but the few lampposts, benches, a sandbox and the trees, nothing but objects in the place. They stayed there for a couple more minutes before deciding that the person they meet might have called it a night and went back home to not cause suspicion on the park.

They were heading back their direction when Rey heard the noise of the safety gun clicking. She looks back in a heartbeat and saw a figure holding a gun aimed at them from a certain distance. She lunges at Luke and pushing him, along with herself, to dodge the bullet by an inch. She regains balance to prevent falling, Rey quickly grabbing the handle of the gun and firing at their attacker. He moved quickly in response with her shots and fired his directly at her.

“No!” Luke’s body rushes in front of her when he had fired his shot. The bullets penetrating through his body.

 _“No!”_ Rey repeated as she sees his body that jerked from the bullets falls to the ground in front of her. But Luke’s action became what was needed to cover for Rey, shooting her gun the bullet made it through to their attacker, directly at his head and piercing it through his skull. Both the bodies went down, the attacker immediately losing his conscious as he drops his weapons to the ground. Luke, however, still in pain from the impact of the bullets.

 _“Luke!_ Luke, look at me!” Rey cried out and went immediately to him, discovering the multiple shots on him. A single drop of rain splashed on top of her. It’s raining now.

The scenario is a copy of what had happened on the day she met the Rebellion, but the only difference now is that no one’s there to save her friend from death. Her mind scrambles at what she needs to do to save him, but nothing except the cold reality that she will lose her friend. Her friend that’s also her teacher, the one that promised to stay by her side and trains her. The one who stayed by her side despite her outrage. She regrets her actions now, regrets it even more when his body is laying down at ground now.

She’s crying now, the tears she put away a week ago now back and is spilling from her. Luke with little energy he has left shushes her from her cries, “Shhh, no more crying, Rey. It’s okay, I’m glad I did what I did. I might not be able to save this world, but at least I was able to save you.”

“You’re not dying on me, Luke!” bawled Rey. “You’ll live, Luke! You’ll live and train me in the field every morning like how you always did. Maybe even screamed at me. I won’t put my anger towards you anymore, so please! Live on!”

“I wished we got to spend more time together, Rey.” He smiles

With his last word, he closes his eye, the smile falling from his lips. Rey’s stopped for a moment before screaming so loud she’s sure it reached the base. She holds his body in a tight hug.

_‘Because I don’t want you to rely on me when I’m not there for you.’_

His words echoed through her head, and when she realizes no one would be there to help her except herself, she decides she has to be the one to help him out, just like what he did to her.

She places his body gently on the ground and proceeds to place her hands on the wounds of his still body, using the water from the rain she freezes them to prevent more blood from flowing out. She’s been told her ability and her are special, now it’s time to see whether what they said was true or not, this is merely whether Rey believes in the words of a few people, were they liars or were they saying nothing but the truth. Her mind keeps saying it’s too late, but regardless she still continues on. If there’s the slightest chance he’ll survive, Rey’s taking it.

Unbeknownst to her, the ice she’s formed on him glows bright, shocked and confused, she can only hope what’s happening now is a miracle.

____________________

“Define what you mean when you said her ice was _special_?” Leia questioned.

“What I mean is she’s not just capable of creating normal ice. She can create ice that contains different features and can be used for specific purposes and even more than one.”

“Simplify it please.” Leia said she rubs her forehead. The day getting the toll on her if she has trouble understanding Lando.

“She can create ice for various use.” Lando simplified. “Let’s say healing. She can create ice which contains healing properties, perfect for tending wounds and alike. Or maybe like metal, she can create ice with properties close to that of stainless steel. She has many options with her ability.”

Leia is now curious at the possibility of that, truly with that magnificent feat from her, she could be what the Rebellion needs.

“Do you think she can beat him?” Leia asked.

“We can only hope.”

____________________

Rey doesn’t grasp the situation, but she doesn’t care. Whatever she’s doing, all she needs to do is keep doing it. The wound from his shots were healing up, maybe not as strong or as effective as Jess’ healing capabilities, but still working well enough to see the blood now gone and the skin stitching itself.

She doesn’t stop forming the ice until Luke sat upright and shocked from the cold on his chest and stomach. “ _Shit!_ that’s col–”

Before he finishes, Rey wraps her hands around him, her force sending him almost falling down to the ground again. Their slight reunion from being apart in the world of the living and the journey to the afterlife was interrupted when they hear the sirens. Without wasting a second, they sped off from the park and without stopping at all, made it surprisingly fast to the clearing where they had parked the van. Luke had no time to question what Rey did to him but hopes he gets the answers as they head off back to the base.  
____________________

It’d been a few days after her first mission. Leia still feeling guilty she had not considered Luke and Rey’s mission possibly being a trap from some bounty hunters eager to get an award from the Emperor himself. If it hadn’t been for Rey, Luke would have possibly in even more danger than he was. Leia’s warnings came true in the end.

This day, Rey happens to be in the field again she’s all too accustomed now. It’s better when her teacher shows up during their training. Speaking of which, he arrives now after having overslept due to Jess’ procedural check on his wounds.

“Morning, Luke.” Rey greeted usually like every other day before and more to come.

Luke replied to her and follows up with the usual routine of training. Rey asks before he gets to start. “How are your wounds?”

“Fine, still have the scars, but nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah… Sorry about that.” Rey apologized tentatively.

“It’s fine. They’re more like a reminder of my journey with you,” he said jokingly.

Rey giggles and as per usual grabs the handful of water from the lake and freezing it solid. This time however, she didn’t care whether it breaks or not. She’s just glad that she gets to be with him, alive and with her through their daily training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad ya'll are reading the stories. Here's an end to the intro arc. We'll be heading to the next arc soon. ^-^


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey finds her contentment every time she's near Luke. And after a brief walk through memory lane, they both got to understand each other more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're taking a break before entering the new arc. So in the mean time here's something fluffy(?)

Luke hisses when the knife cuts a bit of his skin, though it wasn’t an attack. Rather, by an accident in the kitchen when he was cutting some carrots. He and Rey had promised to make dinner for the Rebellion that night, deciding to finally help in the kitchen rather than spending most of their time outside gathering sweat. Leia enjoyed Rey’s stay and when she hadn’t gone for training with Luke, Leia took the position of teacher from him and taught her a thing or two in the kitchen. Most of the time she’s following Leia’s instructions and learning on how to make simple dishes Leia used to make for her family before the whole Rebellion began.

Rey felt lucky at the chance to learn many things from the Rebellion. From training from Luke to better her powers or the culinary lessons she gains from Leia, things she could have learned from her youth if she hadn’t been chased around all the time.

“I told you to be careful, didn’t I?” Rey scolded at Luke when she sees the blood dripping from the tip of his finger.

“It’s nothing, Rey.”

He grabs the small towel on the table, wiping the blood from his finger and keeping the cloth wrapped in place. Rey went to him when he was about to search for bandages, discarding the towel and washes one of her hands while the other grabs his hand in a lock.

“What are you doing?”

Rey didn’t answer him, instead freezes her wet hand along with the water dripping from it. She touches his cut with her frozen hand. It had no effect for a second but the ice brightens up soon and came the healing properties associated with the ice she had created. The ice had done like what it did to save him from the mission a week ago, stitch his wounds back to normal leaving only a small scar at the tip of his finger.

Over the week, she had drastically improved in her control. It leads to Luke feeling a bit proud. Freezing objects was never a problem for Rey, but now she’s able to do it in a faster speed. Moving ice according to her will wasn’t as troubling as it used to be. At least now the ice and snow she creates doesn’t fall apart. Other than the usual moving ice routine, she started practicing in creating various ices, such as the one with the healing factor. It truly had been a miracle she was able to make one during the time Luke was in the verge of death itself. She wonders if she can heal the little Stranger Rey and Luke met during their mission, maybe Rey can give her the vision that her parents robbed from her.

“There, all better.” Rey murmured.

“You know you didn’t have to do that, right?” Luke mentioned. “But thank you.”

She chuckles fondly and moves back to her station, pouring hot soup into the rows of bowls set up. After filling up majority of them, she leaves Luke with his duties in the kitchen and proceeds to go back her quarters for a little privacy, after bidding Luke good night.

Exhausted, she moves tipsily on her path to her room and her eyes dropping tiredly. That day she hadn’t expected for Jess to ask of her for help with the soldiers she has to treat. God, Rey might have to question their training if they leave with open wounds all around their body. While Jess is joyfully open to the idea of having another healer in the Rebellion, if it means she will no longer have the pain to treat every single soldier that gets in harm's way, Rey isn’t used to controlling her powers for an excessive amount of times, especially never for hours without any break.

Rey makes it into her front door, almost passing out along the way, and unlocks it after grabbing her keys. Maybe masking her tiredness in front of everyone wasn’t such a good idea. She applauds Jess with how much work she has to do as the official nurse of the rebellion, yet never ceases to break down. She falls to her bed face down, nearly squishing the orange kitten who had stayed in her room. With a small hiss, Beeby jumps on top of Rey’s back and curling. Too tired to move, she lets her small friend use her back as a substitute to the bed she now occupied.

With a heavy sigh, she lets her eyes fall and descends her head to the soft pillow, and was in the verge of sleep before she hears the knocking at her door. She hopes whoever was there would leave but that never came to be as she hears another few rounds of knocking. She gets up from bed, careful with Beeby and who was hanging by her jacket when she stood and lays her down, and stomps to the door. Grabbing the handle with force, she yanks the door open.

“What!?” she yelled.

Her vision was blurry, either she was too tired or her eyes were adjusting to the light outside her darkened room. Before she could make clear what she sees, a hand placed on her forehead made her stumble back.

“You’re burning up,”

Her eyes haven’t adjusted yet, but she knows the familiar voice. It was Luke.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“You knew?” Rey alarmed.

“I had my suspicion. Go back to bed, I’ll make tea.” Luke ushered her back inside her room.

“Not necessary, I just need sleep.” But he was off to the kitchen before she can say another word.

Despite her protest, he comes back soon enough with what Rey had denied and sets the tray carrying the teapot and cup next to her. Turning on her lamp and pouring the tea into the miniature cup, he offers her the drink even after she shoves it away.

“Drink, it’s made specifically for Strangers.”

She consumes the bitter tea after that, letting her tongue out in disgust with the awful taste in her mouth. He checks her again for her temperature, placing his hand gently on her forehead.

Luke lets out a little sigh, “You could have told me you weren’t feeling well. You looked awfully tired when we began making dinner.”

Rather than a reply, Rey covers his hand on her forehead with her own, keeping them in place before guiding his gentle touch to her cheek, she sinks into it. The feeling of his touch was soft and it just felt so nice, maybe a bit intoxicating dare she say it.

“I… thought I could handle it.” Rey mumbled.

He lets out another sigh, “Rest, take the day off tomorrow. Training resumes after you’re feeling better.”

She panicked a little at that. She didn’t want to skip her training with him, but she’s too tired to say anything. Rey lays down on bed and let’s sleep take over her. Luke watches the moment her body shuts down, her hand still holding his even in sleep and he carefully retrieves it from her. She looks to be in peace now, and not every so often does Luke get to see her face not filled with anxiety and worry. He flicks the switch to her lamp and leaves her room without much noise.

____________________

Rey awakens the next day from the buzz outside her room and the feel of the feline’s fur tickling her neck. She opens her eyes and sees herself in bed which isn’t the slightest bit weird if she hadn’t felt something missing. It hit her the next moment when she sees the teapot and cup on the desk across to her bed, she recalls the story yesterday and Luke brewing her tea.

Also recalls how she had placed his hand between hers till she slept. Instantly, her face colored. She fears she gave Luke a wrong impression and rushes outside in search for him to discuss the matter.

She observes the clock ticking past 11AM and concluded Luke probably wasn’t in the kitchen making his usual coffee, double checks the place for reassurance and was confirmed to be right when she wasn’t able to distinguish him by his hair and clothing from the crowd of people. She doesn’t know where he is, but if she had any guess it’d be the same place the two had spent most of their time together.

Upon arriving to the training field, Rey hears the constant noise of water splashing but it subsided when she approaches from the trees. Curious, walking to the nearest water source she came upon the distinct attire laid on the large stone by the lake. His coat up to his black trouser were there, even his boots. On top of the folded clothings was a towel that Rey lifted closer for further inspection, and when realizing what it was for the sudden idea pressed into her mind.

_‘No...he can’t be.’_

But before Rey could process for a response, a sudden figure erupted from the lake. And with the blast came a seemingly exposed and barren Luke on the lake, the water level reaching just above his waist. He hadn’t notice her dazed status as he strokes his hair covered in water, and Rey pays her every attention to the oblivious Luke.

She was correct with her assumption, his uncovered body showed little signs of aging apart from the few strands of grey in his chest hair. Muscles were now revealed and she sees the experience in them, still strong and the years gone through to train them had not gone in vain. Rey wonders how it would feel to touch his bare skin and gets goosebumps. Her gaze of admiration never leaves him, and her attraction to his blue eyes that… is now wide and looking directly at her.

“Rey!?"

At that moment, her unconsciousness to her surrounding was broken by the loud cry from Luke. Rey’s face shot bright red and she jerks her head away, anywhere but his direction.

“Sorry!” Rey yells back. “Didn’t me– I wasn’– This isn’t what it seems!”

Seconds later, Rey hears the sound of dripping water and with her back still against him, lends him the towel she had been clutching the whole time. Towel off her hand, Rey awaits for him to look presentable. For some time, she patiently waits around and though she can’t explain why, would tilt her head a little to see his image behind her. Not for a very long time, but she figures he has his shirt with his trousers on at least, still she remains quiet to not be discovered of stealing a few mental images of him because she finds everything about him fascinating.

“You can look now,” Luke mumbled from behind.

So Rey turns around and sees him in his full attire. Luke still finds her face red and it might seem it would remain that way for some time. Rey also kept staring at anywhere but him, that was until Luke places his hand again on her to check for her temperature, still finds it a bit warm though unsure whether she has not fully rested enough or because of how her embarrassment is still showing.

She replies to him with her typical ‘I’m fine’ phrase and claims to be all better. Not enough to convince him, but Luke brushes it off and follows her judgment with the condition that if she’s still warm under his touch in the following 15 minutes, he will personally carry her back to her room and keep her in bed as the guard.

Rey jokingly agrees, adding to the condition that states she has to be carried bridal style to her quarters, to which he agrees without sparing another thought. If Rey is being honest, she doesn’t understand why she would initiate such a thing, more so to him complying with her terms. All Rey could think about is obtaining the feeling of warmth and great delight if she would be wrapped around him, if a single hand from him brings her satisfaction than what’s stopping that same feeling when he carries her. Besides, the two are just humoring each other, right?

“So are you going to train me today or what?” Rey queried with a small smirk. “Or would you rather swim nude in the lake again?”

“I HAD MY BOXERS ON THE ENTIRE TIME!” 

His response with his cracked voice was priceless to Rey as she laughs at it. Luke rolled his eyes after Rey finally settled down and concluded that the two could take it slow and easy today.

By that definition, Luke and Rey decided to sit by in the field to relax the whole day, consisting of Luke having fun tales to talk about and mostly just the two of them enjoying each other’s company. One point, Luke having discussed the topic of swimming which Rey had never done before. Awkwardly, she confessed about not knowing how to swim to him when he asked about her experience in the water. But Luke proposed to her his idea of teaching her how to swim after he finished training her with her ability. Rey gladly takes his offer if it also means getting to spend more time with him.

Other than his offer, another striking topic emerged when Rey asked him his past life. His answer, had not been what Rey expected, it astounded her even.

“Let me get this straight. You used to work for the Empire!?” Rey exclaimed.

Luke composedly verified his answer with a nod.

“Why?”

“It was the time of the First Emperor.” Luke started. “He recruited me when he saw what I was able to do, I was assigned to capture every Strangers using their powers for misdeed.”

“And what do you do with them?”

“Put them behind bars, me as their guard. Was like that for 15 years. However, when the new Emperor had come into power, he murdered all the Strangers we locked without my knowledge. I was also against his idea of murdering innocent Strangers, so I ran away and joined the Rebellion. And well, here I am now.”

Rey nodded in understanding, no one would want to follow with what that sick Emperor would do.

“What’s your past?” Luke’s turn to ask.

Rey swallowed hard. She was suddenly afraid of talking. She looks down at her hand while trying to ignore his question. It was to no avail when he asked more about it even after keeping quiet.

“You okay, Rey?” Luke asked worriedly when he noticed the little shaking her body produced.

“No, actually.” Rey answered when she can’t excuse herself from her trembles.

“You can talk about it only if you’re okay with it.” Luke holds her hand with his to prevent any more shaking. “I’m here for you.”

“I… supposed I owe you all an explanation of my background.” Rey said after having stayed quiet for a few minutes.

“Finn mentioned you and him came from an orphanage?” Luke asks as he scoots closer to her while still keeping her hands at his hold.

“Yes, but mine was more than just that.” Rey started weakly while taking in deep breaths. "The reason why we were kicked out is due to the accidental deaths of a few of the kids in the orphanage. I said accidental because that’s what they went along with in the news, but in reality Khu murdered them, and it wasn’t just an accident."

He notices her now strong grip at his arms, they were also starting to get cold, even the ground they were sitting started becoming colder in the sense of feeling it.

“Those kids were once bullies when we were just 15. Majority of them took no pity when they beat us to the ground.” Rey continued, “I guess after finding out about Khu, they decided to go after Finn instead of me. One day, a kid claimed to want to murder Finn and I just had to jump in. One thing led to another, in the end I had unleashed Khu by accident and the kid died when Khu froze his heart.”

“I… The reason why I was in the orphanage was…” By this point, her deep breaths turned into panicked breathing. And the terror in her eyes can be seen clearly by Luke as watery tears roll down her cheeks. “My parents are dead. They’re dead, Luke. And it’s all on me. It’s all on me. It’s all on me.”

Her sobs bursting out from her as she now covers her face with her cold hands. “We were just walking down a road one night, and these group of people wanted to harm us and Khu took control when I tried to fend for myself. She managed to kill the robbers, but my parents got caught in the crossfire.”

Everything inside spilled from her. Incessant sobbing combined with apologies coming out from her mouth. Periodically saying, “I murdered them.”

She feels Luke embracing her, but not even he was able stopped her uncontrollable cries. He pats her repeatedly on the back while trying to calm her down. She looks to be in real pain and without her control starts freezing the ground below her. Luke noticed this quickly and prevents her any further by activating his abilities while still holding her.

Her cries finally falter when she realized Luke still had her in his hug, even throughout her panic. Taking one deep breath, she stops herself from trembling further and makes eye contact with Luke when he says her name.

He holds her tightly and Rey again sinks into the warm feeling, his embrace was so soft, and so comforting it keeps pulling her to him. He reassures Rey the things she has done were by no means intended. What they had done were accidental. She had no play in it. Despite his tries to comfort her, she’s still stuck with the responsibility of the murders she committed. Though Luke managed to put that in the back of her mind at the moment and Rey appreciates his attempts.

He asks her if she needed some privacy, she replies with a yes. But also stated she needed his company. Luke didn’t mind, he had nothing else to do anyways. Rey suggesting Luke should carry her like what they had agreed to her dorm in a teasing manner. But to her surprise, he takes a grip on her hips and her back and carries her all the way to her dorm.

She shouldn’t be so surprised with his strength, but did so anyways and she puts a hand on his chest while being carried. She feels his heartbeat under her touch, and she draws patterns with her finger at his chest. Entering the base, she received a few glances from some people. She even noticed Jess in the background gawking over them. They arrived at their destination and Rey was reluctant to stand, though she probably shouldn’t stay like that forever. Letting go, Rey stood and opened her door, inviting him in her room.

Maybe that might make a few people question about what the two are doing, but in all honesty she cares little about it when all she does with him are having deep conversation and maybe a little game of cards he brought along with him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of action in Rey's usual day with the rebellion. But it's not like she doesn't learn anything from this match with her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we begin with the second arc ya'll. So we're starting with some action here.

"You want me to do what again!?” Rey asked in a slightly louder tone.

In the days after her time spent on healing wounded soldiers, Rey formed a closer bond with Jess, given that those two share the same room together for most of their time. Rey had gotten used to freezing wounds, so she no longer got tired from the overuse of her powers, but it had not left her much time to play poker with Luke or hang out with the guys.

Usually, she would head to her private quarters to lie down, sleep, awaken the following the day and repeat the whole thing again. Maybe, if Jess wouldn’t need her assistance she would be spending time with Luke, either training or betting on some small cents. This night however, she decided to associate herself with Finn and Poe, with their time close to each other Rey can tell something’s up with them. She noticed them when Jess and Luke entered their table in the mess hall, she swears she wasn’t peering at Luke making coffee in the kitchen. A decision for her to sit by them in the same table, ends up being something she regrets the next when Poe asks her a question regarding her training with Luke.

“Spar with me tomorrow. That is if you’re fine with it?” Poe asks again with grin whilst rubbing his hand in anticipation for a positive answer.

“Careful with what you wish for, Dameron,” Luke’s voice cut in, sipping his mug for a moment before clearing his throat to speak up. “She knows hand-to-hand combat. Don’t think I haven’t taught her any of my moves.

Poe glares at the two for a moment, “I know, which is why we battle with our abilities too.

Before Luke or Rey could object on that, Jess jumped into the idea, “I’m all up for Rey kicking his ass!”

Rey gave Jessika a betrayed look, gave one as well to Finn who sided with Jessika and Poe. Luke seems to be the only one not on either side as he quietly sips his coffee.

“I just learned how to launch my ice to attack, what makes you think I can win in a brawl against you?” Rey coaxed.

“Well where’s the harm in trying?” Poe shrugged.

From their pleading eyes, Rey can tell she won’t be able to get out of this one. Admitting defeat, she agrees to his proposal for the next day, then bids them good night soon afterwards for her to get some sleep. She will need it. Tomorrow’s a big day, apparently.  
____________________

Rey wakes up on the ground. Not her concrete floor, but outside in the pouring rain where she lies on dirt. Mud sticking to her body and clothes. She stands up and wipes them off of her, confused with how she ended up outside in the first place. She looks around her surroundings and see nothing but darkness and the continual path of dirt on the ground.

An abrupt call of her name turns her head around behind her and she feel intense fear entering her body. She sees her parents, or at least their corpses. Their bodies decaying, bones clearly noticeable, loss of hair, and they’re approaching her with hands reaching out.

She runs away, but immediately stopped when she was frozen in her tracks, unable to move any part of her body. She remains there standing, like a statue.

“You killed us.” The phrase repeated so many times like a broken recorder. Within hands reach they pressed their decaying hands on her face, Rey screams from the terror building up inside her.

____________________

The next moment, she’s facing the wall. She looks around and only sees the settings of her room, no dirt floor neither endless darkness on the walls. She looks at her bed sheet soaked in her sweat along with her pillow. With how cold the place could be at night, it feels weird when all she’s feeling is heat. It’s not due to her ability though, so possibly it was cause of her dream.

She gets off her bed to her table which wasn’t even 2 meters away and drinks in the bottle of water she had brought with her yesterday. She realizes its morning already when she looked beside the table at the clock.

Immediately, the memory of the previous night returned to her. With a sigh, she prepares herself for the upcoming match, irritated she wasn’t able to deny his request. _‘What did you put yourself into Rey?’_

She groans as she takes her rubber hairband and was about to put on her signature three buns before she stops completely. She stares at the elastic band longer than she should look at a normal object. But then again, that object was the gift her parents gave to her, it had been one she kept since she was a toddler. Maybe she had kept it out of her stubbornness, thinking that with it by her side her parents would find their way back to her, even from dead. Well, if her nightmares back then were the end result, she rather seal the damn thing away. And so she did, throwing it into her drawer and closing it.

 _‘A new me, a new look right?’_ She thought.

Grabbing the bottle of water she just drank not too long ago, she spills the content on the table and pressing her hand on top of it, she freezes the water and slowly concentrates on molding the ice to have a sharp edge. Once finished, she pulls her hair and slices a part of it with the molded ice. The result is a bit messy, but one look at her mirror and she felt content with the new look, and maybe that was what she needed, something new and refreshing.

Not long after, she hears knocking on her door with the call from Luke. “Rey, you ready!?”

Dissolving the ice into thin air, Rey puts on her tight boots and she took a moment to breathe before she opens the door to Luke, revealing to him her new hair look. She leans on the door frame with one hand while the other was positioned on her hip in front of the flustered Luke.

“Oh…” He finally spoke up after a minute of awkward silence. “You... got yourself a haircut.”

She goes for an elegant little twirl, “Do you like it?”

“You look beautiful,” Luke answered, and Rey could swear she sees his cheeks colored immediately upon his quick answer. “I mean, not to say you didn’t look beautiful before. Just… you look gorgeous. Shall we go?”

Rey giggles at his compliment, and out of nowhere, presses a kiss on his cheek. Luke stepped back a bit when receiving that surprising blow, brows raised maybe out of shock.

Processing her action, her eyes widened and she felt embarrassed immediately, “Sorry, you just looked adorable.”

 _‘As if that was a reason to kiss him on the cheek’_ , Rey groaned internally.

Her walk to the field with him was silent after that. Maybe she might have made things weird with him. She and Luke are really close. It would really break her if that relationship with Luke would be tarnished, especially if she was the main cause of it. Besides, it’s not like that kiss meant anything, just a simple peck to the cheek. It happens with friends too. Her mind scrambles on the kiss too much she hadn’t realized she arrived at the field until a hand pat her on the back.

She flinched and looks back to see Jess behind her. Jess’ eyes scroll left and right on Rey’s face. “You got a new hair!” she beamed cheerfully.

“Uh, yeah. Was tired of the old one.”

“It looks good on you.”

Thanking her for the compliment, Rey looks around the field and notices Leia and Han standing nearby, Luke approaching them to stand close to them. Probably to spectate the match. She also sees Poe and Finn on the opposite side of where she and Jess is at the moment. Taking a deep breath, she closes the distance to the guys, Jess and Finn joining the Generals in their spot.

“So… are you ready?” Poe challenged, moving back a bit from her to create a gap between the two.

“Yes.”

“Good.” Poe tosses a pebble at her direction, “Here we go!”

The pebble thrown moved at a faster speed, had Rey not realized this she wouldn’t have been able to dodge it last second. Falling to the ground from evading the attack, she grumbled “Maybe give me a second to prepare before the match begins before you attack next time!”

“Sorry!”

Rey let out her hand and came with it a torrent snow aimed at him, but it barely reached him. It didn’t even reach a metre away. ‘Must be Poe’s doing.’ She thought.

Standing up from her knees, Rey picked up the pebble thrown at her as well as a few laying on the ground and freezes it. She causes them to levitate for a moment and the next second she can focus on controlling them, she launches it at Poe. But it proved to be futile once more when the frozen rocks stopped midway.

“Anything thrown at me, I’ll slow it down, Rey” He declared triumphantly.

Rey stopped for a minute, formulating a plan to avoid her attacks from being slowed. She looks at the mess of snow and ice beneath her and a thought came to mind. She disperses the ice and snow into the air while taking a defensive stance.

“If you’re not attacking. I will!” Holding his stash coins from his pocket, he throws a multitude of them at her while increasing the speed of each of them. Rey was quick to form a small ice barrier for cover, though unlike the giant wall she made during her mission with Luke, this one was smaller and weaker.

Looking at her surrounding, she sees nothing she can freeze to buy time for her plan. Her cover isn’t holding out either from Poe’s barrage of attacks. Her chance of winning are close to null, but willing to try she encloses her hands. Concentrating very hard, she slowly freezes the air particles and forms it into a shard of ice. Joyous that she was successful, she controls it the next second and shoots it at Poe while remaining hidden. Again, the ice slows down before it was even able to reach him.

Luke chuckles at the exchange of abilities in the match, even more so when he sees Rey growing in this battle. Creating ice from nothing isn’t an easy task to accomplish. He knows that too well when he remembers his friend. But Luke wasn’t focusing on the match alone, he noticed Rey’s plan the moment she dissolved her ice. At least, she managed to fool Poe for the time being.

Relentless with his attacks, Poe keeps firing at her cover, still keeping his stance in without moving at all. “You can admit defeat, Rey.”

“Nope! Not letting you get bragging rights.” Rey banter.

“Suit yourself.”

Grabbing his final coin, he launches it at her shield and it finally shatters to pieces. Revealing a Rey whose armed with at least 6 frozen shards floating around her. He’s prepared for the onslaught of ice, but he wasn’t prepared for when he noticed a single drop of snow falling to the ground. Poe looks above him and to his disbelief, sees a giant ball of snow floating above him, just far enough where he wouldn’t see it.

The whole match, he remained in that one spot, unmoving. That was what Rey needed for her plan to succeed, distracting him with her attacks just so that he would be unable avoid the huge snowball now falling on top of him. He’s about to move but when he does so, sees Rey launching her shards at him. She grins now, trapped him in a spot. Either he, slows down the snow or the shards, one is sure to hit. _‘Checkmate.’_

In the moment of close victory, a slight miscalculation from Rey surfaces as Poe screams. **“Delete Time!”**

In an instance, everything turned to black and white, except for Poe who stands calmly in front of Rey’s attacks… that moves no inch. All stopped midway. At this moment, Poe walks idly to Rey and goes behind her to put her in a headlock between his hands. And in the next moment, everything returns to full color.

She felt her eyes tricked her when she noticed Poe disappear and all her attacks hitting no one, but she squeals the next when Poe has her in a lock.

“Got you!” Poe cackled. “I win!”

He lets go of her and she’s still in utter confusion with what had just transpired. “Wha– Wait!? What?”

“He used his trump card.” Rey hears Luke approaching them, “One that he created. He’s able to slow down objects, but his trump card lets him slow down time itself. For a brief moment at least.”

“Is that even possible!?” Rey questioned.

“Well, yes.” Luke answered. “Strangers can develop their powers and overtime learn the potential it has.”

Still, Rey lets out a disappointed sigh.

“You did good though, Rey.” Luke praised her on. “Managed to even make him use his trump card.”

“What about me!?” Poe asked for when he hears no compliment directed at him.

“Oh shut up, Dameron.” Jessika chuckled, “You’re good enough as it is.”

“Better than nothing I guess,” Poe huffed.

Rey was relieved when it all ended as they and the others head back to the base, and though she didn’t admit this to Poe, she did enjoy having that spar with him, even learned new tricks all the while. Though her bigger relieve is when things hadn’t been anymore awkward with Luke. She probably should tell Jessika about what happened, but she’s too stuck playing poker in the table in the mess hall with her and Luke, Han joining soon after and complimenting her hair, just like all the others have. Right now, she’s just having too much fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New design for Rey's hair is right here people ^-^
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/17428754/chapters/41240807#workskin

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats on reaching this far!  
> (｡･ω･｡)  
> If anyone has any constructive criticism, do share it in the comments. If not, then comments are appreciated too ^-^


End file.
